TGPA Chapter 10: Top 10,000 List
Ye Zi Tao waited for two days, but by the next day at noon, she still hadn't seen the broadcaster named "Hao Zi" climb onto the mic. In fact, even in her friends list, she noticed he remained in a perpetually offline state. This put Ye Zi Tao in a bad mood. She turned down her friend's invitation to go shopping today. Her friend even logged into Lele, the platform, to visit the "Golden Melody Karaoke" channel to see the broadcaster she had praised so much. But alas, he was nowhere to be found, leaving her with a feeling of being let down.
After eating, when Ye Zi Tao returned to her room, she was a little annoyed. She even considered deleting the friend request from that broadcaster, despite spending over two thousand yuan. But what was more infuriating was that this guy had disappeared.
As a girl from a wealthy family, she had a bit of a princess complex—self-centeredness was inherent.
When Ye Zi Tao clicked on Hao Zi's ID, intending to delete it, she suddenly noticed that the account was online. "Hao Zi" had logged in?
Ye Zi Tao was taken aback, then quickly typed: "You there?"
In a flash, within ten seconds, the other party replied: "I'm here."
Ye Zi Tao's ID was "Ye Zi": "Why weren't you on yesterday?"
Hao Zi: "I went back to my hometown. Just finished setting up my computer today and came online to climb onto the mic."
Ye Zi Tao: "Still at Golden Melody Karaoke?"
Hao Zi: "Yes, currently, it's the only place I can climb onto the mic. My mic time is from 10 in the morning to 8 in the evening. Want to listen to some songs?"
Ye Zi Tao: "I'd like to hear you sing 'Light.'"
Hao Zi: "Sure, I'm currently in the 20th spot on the mic queue. It'll probably take an hour before it's my turn."
Ye Zi Tao: "Where are you from?"
Hao Zi: "From the northeast."
Chatting with a big spender was something everyone in the industry told Chen Hao was necessary when he first started out. Even if you had exceptional talent, you needed both popularity and big spenders to support you in order to make a name for yourself. So for Chen Hao, chatting with this Ye Zi, who had spent over two thousand, was not a pressure at all. Besides, during the mic queue, it was just a matter of waiting. With his computer's configuration, he wouldn't dare play a game or watch a movie. At most, he would read a novel on QQ. With chatting, it couldn't be considered as him accompanying the other party, just mutual company.
As for Ye Zi Tao, she initially felt a bit angry. But as they chatted, she found that this broadcaster named Hao Zi was mature in speech and behavior. He didn't speak much and wouldn't use any words that would make you feel disgusted, nor would he intentionally flirt. The story of a female broadcaster and a male big spender, or vice versa, was commonplace on Lele. They were willing, and the other was willing to accept. Ye Zi Tao didn't like those kinds of broadcasters. This Hao Zi was good. Whether it was just a surface show or not, she would take her time to observe.
"After listening to you sing, I feel like you must have a lot of experiences."
"A man who refuses to admit his mistakes, but is told by this era that he is wrong. After more than twenty years of life, perhaps the only thing that has persisted is that unyielding soul."
"Wow, so literary. Did you copy that from the internet?"
"Hehe, it's almost my turn on the mic."
Chen Hao didn't need to explain his life to the other party. The internet was the internet, and reality was reality. If the other party said he copied it, he wouldn't explain. He just wanted to use the song the other party requested to show whether he needed to copy some literary words from the internet to please her.
"Hello, everyone. Here's a song called 'Light,' dedicated to all of you, especially to the beautiful Ye Zi who supports me."
"When ashes seal the frosty eaves, when chrysanthemums turn into autumn dew, I use the stubborn withered vines to make my luggage, and head towards the thorny foreign land. When the earth is covered with sorrowful fallen leaves, when azaleas turn into distant mist, bless me, my most missed loved ones, that is my departing figure to bid farewell to you."
"Perhaps the confusion of the lost path will tear apart my footsteps, but I believe the future will give me a pair of dream wings. Although the bitterness of failure has left me scarred, I firmly believe that the light is ahead."
At the beginning of the song, many people, like Ye Zi Tao, listened quietly. The chat suddenly quieted down, and the screen went from various chats to everyone spamming "666." Hao Zi, who sang all day, might not be memorable to many people, but in a small channel like "Golden Melody Karaoke," where people came and went every day, it was rare to be able to catch him at this moment and hear Chen Hao's performance.
The singing ability of the god of song, the requirements for singing songs, were not where Chen Hao's strengths lay. His singing voice, even if taken to a professional music school, could be used as a perfect control model.
The system-given husky voice, even more tearing than the original singer Wang Feng's voice, coupled with his experience of drifting in Beijing for the past few years, was very close to the artistic conception of many rock singers' songs. The most basic shouting, the release of emotions, Chen Hao lacked none of it.
"My light is just nearby, not far away. I have a perfect anchor system, and I can have more. I can do it."
As the chorus began for the second time, he forgot to check the time for his turn in the queue. Standing up, he raised the microphone, closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and let the lyrics flow into his mind. With singing technique and vocal ability no longer hindrances, his emotions elevated the feeling of the song to its peak. Unbeknownst to him, if he hadn't ended the song just over twenty seconds before his turn was due to end, the channel moderators would have extended his queue time by sixty or even one hundred and twenty seconds. Not only were the over two thousand people in the room intoxicated by his performance, even the moderators were completely immersed.
Other anchors might take advantage of the remaining queue time to ask for more followers or donations, but Chen Hao didn't. He had completely poured out his emotions during the performance, and his mind still lingered in that emotional state, neglecting to say anything into the microphone.
This brief silence for over ten seconds actually made many people feel extremely comfortable. He finished the last note, and Ye Zitao quickly started sending gifts, eight sets of the 520 "Song God" series, fearing that if Haozi left the stage, she wouldn't have gifted him. Sitting in front of her computer, she murmured, "He sang so well, I was so focused on listening that I forgot to send gifts."
Eight sets of the 520 "Song God" series were definitely considered bombshell gifts in such a small channel, totaling over ten thousand in spending, instantly making Ye Zitao the top contributor on the channel's weekly gift leaderboard.
Haozi stepped down from the stage, and those who still wanted to send gifts, just like Ye Zitao a moment ago, were immersed in the song. By the time they wanted to express their support with gifts, Haozi had already left the stage.
"Amazing, amazing, this anchor is amazing, the singing is so beautiful."
"666666666666666……"
"We strongly request the moderators to extend the queue time."
"I haven't sent gifts yet, and the anchor has already stepped down. Mods, please adjust the queue. We want to hear another song from Haozi."
"If you like Haozi, then consider joining the fan club to support him." This message, posted by Ye Zitao with her Baron status privilege, appeared in the middle of the gift spam. She didn't even realize that she was trending towards becoming a hardcore fan herself, already assisting the anchor in managing his operations.
At this moment, the channel controllers began to follow the established procedures and posted some scripted messages on the public screen, mostly encouraging viewers to join the fan club or become regulars in the channel.
Chen Hao thanked everyone on the public screen, but the chat speed in the room with over two thousand people skyrocketed. He didn't even see the messages he typed; most of them were just repeating "6666." After all, in a music channel, in a small sub-channel, hearing a good voice, a beautiful song, or an emotionally charged singer was an exciting experience.
Chen Hao refreshed the backend, a habit of every small anchor. Lele Platform took care of everyone's emotions in this regard, with a very comprehensive system in place. The backend for anchors had a very complete page, refreshing every thirty seconds with the amount of gifts received, fan club memberships, income from fan club memberships, and some queries about violations. The income system for anchors had been perfected over the past year, abandoning the original system of exchanging red and blue diamonds and giving away red diamond vouchers for fan club memberships. This made the value of fan club memberships higher on the platform; opening a fan club was purely a form of support for the anchor, a symbol of identity when browsing live channels—a tool for showing off.
The number of fan club members had increased from twelve to twenty-three in just a few minutes.
At the same time, the eight sets of the 520 "Song God" series gifts from Ye Zitao also fulfilled the requirement in Chen Hao's newbie tasks within the Perfect Anchor System to receive gifts worth over two thousand yuan—fulfilled. He had realized a couple of days ago, before leaving Yanjing, that the total value of gifts in the Perfect Anchor System wasn't the value of gifts others sent on Lele Platform but the value of gifts that ended up in his own pocket.
With a snap of his fingers, feeling elated, Chen Hao felt a slight tightness in his throat. He opened the drink left by his mother and took a sip. At this moment, he saw a private message from Ye Zitao, and he couldn't help but feel fond of her. Rich people, huh? Over ten thousand spent in less than ten seconds.
So, this was how it felt when someone showered you with gifts.
So, this was how it felt when people flooded the public screen with praises.
Three years as an anchor couldn't compare to these three days as an anchor.